


In Terms of You and Me

by Meilan_Firaga



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Pre-Relationship, Self-Discovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2019-10-26
Packaged: 2021-01-04 00:36:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21188636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meilan_Firaga/pseuds/Meilan_Firaga
Summary: The Avengers meant something to Maria Hill before the incidents that spawned the Accords. They were her livelihood and, more importantly, her friends. Especially one of them in particular. With Captain America on the run, Maria goes on a journey to keep track of he and his team. On the way, she comes to some understandings about herself and how she views certain people in her life.





	In Terms of You and Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tielan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tielan/gifts).

For a guy who once went by the nickname “The Star-Spangled Man with a Plan,” Rogers didn’t seem to have much of one in the wake of his falling out with Tony Stark. Maria Hill had started hunting for him the moment word reached her of the incident at The Raft and had been woefully disappointed when she found him without much trouble at all. She did, of course, have the advantage of a career as a spy, but that only gave her so much leeway. He was on the run from half the world’s governments. She would have thought he’d practice more serious discretion. 

At the very least she thought he might pick up on the fact that he had a tail.

As it was, he didn’t notice her following him as he took his little circus of fugitives on a merry jaunt from Canada to South America before they jetted off to Europe in their stolen quinjet. They weren’t even staying out of major cities. In fact, she was pretty sure the only reason they’d hopped continents at all was because they were either making a vague attempt to throw off any pursuers or were actually taking a sort of miniature vacation. It was also clear that their little operation was severely lacking in technical prowess because while they had managed to disable the jet’s basic tracking information not a one of them had even bothered to give the vehicle a once-over and find her bug.

She was sitting in disguise at a cafe across from where he was grocery shopping with Wanda, internally bemoaning the good captain’s apparent lack of caring, when every hair on the back of her neck stood on end. There were only two people in recent memory who’d managed to get the drop on her, and she’d realized far too late that she’d never confirmed the location of the Black Widow. A new mug of chai tea appeared at her elbow, delivered by a waitress that favored her with a beaming smile that said she’d been told she was helping a secret admirer instead of possibly delivering death. By Maria’s calculations, odds were an even split between it being only tea and being full of poison. The waitress continued her delivery with the addition of a blueberry scone on a tiny plate, but it was the napkin tucked beneath it that drew Maria’s eye. She murmured a polite thank you and waited until the girl had gotten several tables away before she tugged the napkin free.

Every word was written in a different language, the myriad scripts so different they almost looked more like some kind of intricate artwork than a sentence. Still, she was able to pick out the meaning after staring at it for a couple of moments.  _ He needs more than a casual observer. _

It was such a simple statement, but Maria knew enough about Natasha Romanov to read between the lines. She picked up the scone and nibbled on a corner of it absently, unfocused gaze trained on the napkin. It might have been foolish to trust the offering of food and drink, but she was marginally sure that Natasha wouldn’t send that kind of message with poison. She stayed in her chair at the cafe long after Rogers and the rest of his fugitive buddies had wandered off with their purchases, sipping slowly at the tea even after it had cooled enough to drink a little faster. 

Life since the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. had been full of interesting things. Back in D.C. she’d kept her distance from people because of her position, but that was nearly impossible with the Avengers. They’d roped her into group dinners, movie nights, and all manner of social activities. Even after the move to the upstate facility they would seek her out for more friendship endeavors than world-saving concerns. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that she’d been seeking them out, too. Or, at least, one of them. The Steve Rogers she’d been following for the past few weeks was a distant, broken shadow of the man who’d been her buddy for arthouse cinema and greasy pizza. In all the rush to keep track of him she’d fallen back on the way she’d behaved as Deputy Director, but she’d forgotten to consider the situation in terms of friendship. Where was the easy grin that made butterflies dance in her stomach?

Her thoughts ground to a halt.  _ Butterflies? _

Cold tea forgotten, Maria tucked a few euros under her plate and stood, barely taking the time push her chair back far enough so that she wouldn’t bump the table. Hands jammed in the pockets of her coat, she frowned a bit as she walked down the street with no mind to where she was going. Since when did she equate Captain America’s megawatt smile with butterflies? She combed through her memories while she walked, searching for the moment that Rogers—world-saving asset and relic of a time gone by—had become simply Steve, the guy that gave her the black olives he picked off his pizza and drank his coffee so dark and strong that he might as well have a mug full of espresso. 

The answer was in a night several months before the upset in Lagos when Maria had been going through a particularly nasty bout of insomnia. Steve seemed to have a second sense for when his people were going through a rough patch, and he appeared unannounced in the communal living area she’d holed up in just after two in the morning. He hadn’t said anything about the time or her sleeplessness. He’d just made them each one of his ridiculously large and over-the-top gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches and settled in beside her on the couch. She’d woken in the gray light of dawn with her head pillowed on his thigh. He was asleep sitting bolt upright with one arm draped over the back of the couch, shadows on his jaw. At some point he’d dragged the knitted throw from the back of the couch to cover her. That moment, the feeling of being so cared for that Captain America was willing to sit up uncomfortably so she could get a little sleep.

With the memory of his sleeping face dancing across her mind she came to a stop on a little bridge over a creek. She felt her face warming as she considered what it might be like to wake up next to Steve without insomnia as an excuse. As Natasha had clearly noticed, she’d come at this from entirely the wrong angle. Reaching up, she tugged the blonde wig off her head and shook out her natural hair. It was time to forget the spy games and work with her heart. With a flick of her wrist, she tossed the wig in a bin and turned in the direction of the house where Steve and his team were hiding. It was her turn to be there for her friend, even if it meant just keeping him company when he couldn’t sleep.

Maria slipped through a carelessly open upstairs window, moving through the house with a spy’s grace. She didn’t startle him completely, of course, but she did make it within ten feet of Steve before he turned around. For a moment, his expression showed nothing but shock. Then, slowly it melted into a genuine, beaming smile.


End file.
